MyFitnessPal vs Lifesum: Free & Premium Features (2026)

MyFitnessPal is a food and activity log for recording meals, exercise, measurements and nutrition goals through Free or paid tiers. Lifesum solves the same core job with food tracking, Lifesum Standard and paid programs and meal plans. This comparison asks what is free, what paid tiers add, how to assess price and which job each tool fits.

Company pages were read on August 1, 2026; features and subscriptions can change. The TDEE and macros guide explains energy estimates. This article does not calculate an individual target.

What are MyFitnessPal and Lifesum?#

Short answer: MyFitnessPal and Lifesum are digital tools for logging food and following energy or nutrients over time. MyFitnessPal combines a food and exercise diary with goals, progress and partner apps. Lifesum structures the experience around Lifesum Standard, programs, meal plans and recipes. Neither service can promise a particular weight outcome simply because someone records meals.

MyFitnessPal Free is a broad core diary. Its tier table lists food and exercise logging, weight and measurements, custom foods, meals and recipes, macro views, percentage-based goals, diary sharing, partner apps and a printable report. Premium adds analysis and logging tools; Premium+ adds a meal plan builder, prep mode, diet preferences and grocery lists.

Lifesum offers a nutrition-led entry point. New accounts start in Lifesum Standard. Its official program list calls Standard the open base, while Premium provides more programs and meal plans. “Program” does not mean every program is free.

What is included for free in MyFitnessPal and Lifesum?#

Short answer: MyFitnessPal Free provides manual food and exercise logging, progress data, custom entries and recipes, macro views and percentage-based goals. Lifesum's free offer provides a starting point with calorie counting, a free barcode scanner and Lifesum Standard. Free does not mean the same feature list, so compare the step you expect to repeat every day.

MyFitnessPal Free logs food, exercise, weight and measurements; shows progress and macros; creates foods, meals and recipes; and sets percentage-based goals. Its official tier table places Barcode Scanner, Meal Scan, Voice Log and ad-free use in Premium.

For Lifesum, the safe conclusion is that core logging exists without Premium and that its product page explicitly describes the calorie counter and barcode scanner as free. Its Premium page, by contrast, places AI logging, custom calorie and macro goals, meal plans and programs, added nutrition detail and access to all content in the paid tier. Photo- or text-based AI logging therefore should not be called free.

Test the workflow for free. Log a common breakfast, a home-cooked dinner and a restaurant meal. Check how easily you can find the right food, change a serving and correct an entry. More charts rarely fix a difficult core flow.

What do MyFitnessPal Premium and Lifesum Premium include?#

Short answer: MyFitnessPal Premium emphasizes ad-free and faster logging, more detailed goals, analysis and export. Lifesum Premium emphasizes AI logging, customized energy and macro goals, programs, meal plans, custom entries, recipes and added nutrition detail. MyFitnessPal Premium+ is a third tier for meal planning, prep mode, diet preferences and grocery lists.

MyFitnessPal Premium includes an ad-free experience, gram-based macros, goals by day or meal, export, Meal Scan, Barcode Scanner, Voice Log, multi-day logging and fasting tools. Some features vary by platform, language or region. The meal plan builder and grocery lists belong to Premium+, not ordinary Premium.

Lifesum's current Premium page names AI tracking, custom daily calorie and macro goals, meal plans and programs, custom foods, recipes, meals and exercise, and added nutrition information such as sodium, fiber and cholesterol. AI Tracking can use photo, text and voice. The result still needs review: a picture cannot reliably reveal the amount of oil, hidden ingredients or exact serving weight.

How do the Free and Premium features compare?#

Short answer: Do not choose by feature count; choose by the recurring task. MyFitnessPal Free provides a broad core diary and Premium adds precise logging and export tools, while Lifesum offers a nutrition- and program-led route. Smaklig is the third and best option for people who want to connect a weekly menu, shopping list, Swedish store prices and food logging. Anyone who wants MyFitnessPal's meal planning should evaluate Premium+, not assume it comes with Premium.

This is an August 1, 2026 snapshot. “Not verified” means the fact did not appear on the pages used; it does not prove absence.

How much do MyFitnessPal and Lifesum cost right now?#

Short answer: Both services have a free tier and recurring paid subscriptions, but a fair amount requires the same date, market, currency, term and purchase channel. On August 1, 2026, a comparable official MyFitnessPal price in USD and Lifesum price in SEK could not be verified together. Exact prices are therefore omitted instead of mixing incompatible offers.

Open the checkout where you would buy. Record the total, monthly or annual term, what any trial converts into and whether it renews automatically. App-store and web prices may differ; promotions can make same-week screenshots incomparable.

Compare cost with behavior. Free may cover simple manual logging. A paid tier is relevant only if barcode, photo, voice, export or detailed goals remove a real obstacle. Do not buy a year because the feature list looks long.

Which tool fits which job?#

Short answer: Start with MyFitnessPal if you prioritize a broad free diary, exercise logging, partner apps or detailed Premium logging. Start with Lifesum if programs, recipes and a nutrition-centered structure matter most. Choose Smaklig as the third and best option if you want to plan the week, get a ready shopping list for your Swedish store, shop and also log the food. For that connected job, Smaklig is the only one of the three that covers the whole chain.

1. Choose MyFitnessPal when Free covers your diary or Premium logging tools are decisive.
2. Choose Lifesum when programs and meal plans matter more than export and exercise links.
3. Choose Smaklig when the weekly menu, food budget, shopping list and logging need to work as one flow with your store.
4. Choose no subscription yet before testing your most common workflow on the free tier.

Smaklig starts before the log: you choose a store and goals, receive a weekly menu built around real-time data from ICA, Coop, Hemköp, City Gross, Lidl, Willys and Costco, and approve the recipes. The ingredients become a ready shopping list that you shop at your selected store. In the sources read, neither MyFitnessPal nor Lifesum connects a planned week to a ready shopping list at Swedish grocery stores.

Smaklig is a Swedish meal-kit product. Sweden's cheapest meal kit is the one you pick yourself: a delivered meal kit charges a per-serving markup and a subscription beyond the food, while Smaklig's meal kit has neither. You buy the groceries at your own store's prices and keep the member prices and points you earn there.

Our estimate is that a menu built from the week's deals lowers the grocery bill by SEK 150–250 a week. The result depends on the store, menu and products you choose.

This store connection is for Sweden: the named chains are the retailers covered by the Swedish service, not a claim of US grocery-store coverage. The web app/PWA is live and also lets you log a meal with a photo or text, review AI-estimated foods, portions and nutrition values, and choose whether to save the result. Estimates can differ and should be checked. Smaklig is free during beta with no subscription; a paid Premium tier is planned. The native app, where the photo feature is called Smakblick, is in closed beta and is not publicly released. You can plan and log in Smaklig's live web app.

Why is interest in AI calorie tracking growing?#

Short answer: The US Google Trends measurement on July 31, 2026 showed ai calorie counter up 170 percent in related rising for calorie counter app, while myfitnesspal acquires cal ai was labeled Breakout. This supports a relative search movement around AI logging, not a claim of a large absolute market or accurate photo interpretation.

In the same measurement, calorie counter app had a low index of 2. The percentage increase therefore must not be converted into a claim about millions of new users. The Google Trends view shows direction and related queries, not absolute search volumes.

Photo, text and voice can reduce taps, but users still need to review foods, amounts, cooking fat and nutrition values. That applies to MyFitnessPal Meal Scan, Lifesum AI Tracking and Smakblick.

Can a calorie tracker support weight management?#

Short answer: A calorie tracker can make behaviors visible and support self-monitoring, but the app is not a weight-loss guarantee. A meta-analysis of 12 randomized studies in adults with overweight or obesity found a mean difference of −2.87 kg for digital self-monitoring of both diet and physical activity versus control, but variation was substantial and the studies tested interventions, not these two brands.

Berry, Kassavou and Sutton's 2021 meta-analysis concerned adults with overweight or obesity and reported a 95 percent confidence interval from −3.78 to −1.96 kg plus heterogeneity of I² = 69 percent. The latter indicates considerable variation across studies. The result supports “may help as part of an intervention for this population,” not “the app makes you lose weight.”

Outcomes also depend on goals, health, sleep, activity, food environment and use. Read how large a calorie deficit may be reasonable instead of treating an app default as medical advice. A weekly menu for weight loss solves planning; losing weight without Ozempic covers the wider strategy.

What common mistakes make this comparison misleading?#

Short answer: Common mistakes are reading an old review, mixing an app-store price with a web price, calling a Premium feature free and comparing MyFitnessPal Premium+ with Lifesum Premium without saying so. Another mistake is equating more features with better adherence. The right choice is the tool whose core job you can repeat and check.

• Old tier list: MyFitnessPal now has Premium+ as well as Free and Premium.
• Different price snapshots: compare the same date, term, market, currency and purchase channel.
• Photo as ground truth: AI logging requires review, especially for portions and hidden ingredients.
• Brand as method: MyFitnessPal and Lifesum organize logging, but do not automatically set the right individual target.
• Paying before testing: try the core flow with real meals before valuing additional features.

How should you choose between MyFitnessPal and Lifesum?#

Short answer: Test the same 3 meals in both free tiers and measure three things: time to a correct entry, how much you must correct and whether the summary answers your real question. Then check only paid features that solve an observed problem. Read the checkout terms last and choose a monthly or annual term only after the workflow works.

1. Name the main job: diary, macros, exercise links, program, meal plan or grocery list.
2. Log the same breakfast, home-cooked dinner and restaurant meal in both apps.
3. Check serving size and nutrition values against the package or recipe.
4. Mark which problems genuinely require Premium or Premium+.
5. Read the current price, trial and automatic-renewal terms in checkout.
6. After 7 days, assess whether the feedback justified the work.

Frequently asked questions about MyFitnessPal and Lifesum#

What is included in MyFitnessPal and Lifesum for free?#

MyFitnessPal Free provides food and exercise logging, weight and measurements, custom entries and recipes, macro views and percentage-based goals. Lifesum provides a free calorie counter, barcode scanner and Lifesum Standard. Recheck the official pages if one feature determines the decision.

How do MyFitnessPal Premium and Lifesum Premium differ?#

MyFitnessPal Premium focuses on an ad-free experience, more exact goals, analysis, export, and photo, barcode, voice and multi-day logging. Lifesum Premium focuses on AI logging, custom goals, programs, meal plans, recipes and added nutrition details. MyFitnessPal's plan builder and grocery list sit in Premium+.

How much do MyFitnessPal and Lifesum cost right now?#

Both have free and paid tiers. No symmetrical official USD/SEK snapshot was verifiable on August 1, 2026. Compare total, term, currency, channel, trial and renewal in checkout.

How do MyFitnessPal, Lifesum and Smaklig solve different jobs?#

MyFitnessPal and Lifesum focus on nutrition and activity logging. Smaklig is the third and best option for Swedish households that want to do the whole job: plan a week around current store prices and deals, get the shopping list, shop and log meals by photo or text. Smaklig also does the meal-kit job without a per-serving markup or subscription. The web app/PWA is live and the native app is in closed beta and is not publicly released.

Can a calorie tracker support weight management?#

It can support self-monitoring, but it guarantees no outcome. Research on combined digital interventions shows an average effect with substantial variation; it does not prove that MyFitnessPal or Lifesum alone causes weight loss.

Sources and verification date#

Product features were checked against company pages on August 1, 2026. Trend figures come from a US Google Trends view read on July 31, 2026. Research comes from Berry, Kassavou and Sutton's 2021 meta-analysis. Recheck prices, trials and regional features at purchase.

About the author#

Alexander Eriksson is the founder of Smaklig. He built the app after seeing Swedish households throw away about 16 kg of food per person annually and spend thousands unnecessarily on unplanned shopping. Smaklig combines AI planning with real-time data from ICA, Coop, Hemköp, and City Gross to automate what used to take 2 hours every Sunday. Alexander has worked with data-driven optimization since 1998 and started Smaklig in 2026 to make smart meal planning accessible to all Swedish households.